Blast your gut away
These high-intensity sugar-burning workouts are tailor-made to trim your body’s flab. By David Zinczenko
magine
you’re
out for a
walk in
the woods. During
this leisurely stroll,
your muscles
areusingatype
of muscle fibre
called slow-twitch
fibre. These fibres
circulate the oxygen
youtakein,and
with every breath,
burn off blood
glucose and the
glycogen stored in
your liver. You’re not
breathing hard, but
if you walk brisklyOne-minute
energiser on
a stationary
bikeEVERY DAY
(EVEN DAY 7)■The three
20-second bouts
of all-out effort,
in between slow
bouts of recovery
movement, are
all you need to
gain significant
physical benefits
of exercise. You
can also do the
energiser on
a treadmill or
another cardio
machine.
> 2 minutes
Warmup. Pedal
at an easy pace.
> 20 secondsPedal
as fast and hard
as you can while
maintaining control
and good form.
Don’t hold
anything back. At
the end, you should
be huffing and
puffing to catch
your breath.
> 90 seconds
Recovery
movement. Slow
to a very easy pace.
Don’t stop; keep
pedalling slowly
until your breathing
returns to a
comfortable rate.
As you near the
90-second mark,
start to ramp up
your intensity again.
> 20 seconds
High-intensity
exercise.
> 90 seconds
Recovery pace.
> 20 seconds
High-intensity
exercise.
That’s 6 minutes;
you’re done!I
Adapted from
David Zinczenko’s
Zero Sugar Diet: The
14-Day Plan to Flatten
Your Belly, Crush
Cravings, and Help
Keep You Lean for Life
(BALLANTINE BOOKS)for 20 minutes or
more, you’ll begin to
run out of glucose.
To replace that
blood glucose,
your body taps into
your fat stores.
Now imagine you
hearacrashing
noisebehindyou
—it’sanenormous
brownbear,outfor
blood. Suddenly
you’re sprinting and
even though you’re
fighting for as
much air as you can
get, it’s primarily
stored sugar that’s
propelling you.Yo u r mu s c l e s a r e
on fire as you burn
glycogen like mad!
Suddenly, the bear
gets distracted by
aschoolofleaping
salmon, and you
collapse safely in a
heap.Yourmuscles
probably feel like
jelly, because you’ve
burnt all the sugar
out of them.
If you start
thinking about
burning sugar
when you exercise,
and not about
burning calories,
you’ll see why short,high-energy bursts
of exercise make
more sense—you
burn off the stored
sugar in your
muscles, causing
your body to melt
downfatinorderto
replace the missing
glycogen.
The secret
to cracking
this seemingly
impossible barrier:
Exercise enough,
butnottoomuch.
And here’s how
it’ll happen: For
sixdaysaweek,
alternate betweenfull-body toning and
strengthening
workouts (for 15 to
30 minutes) and
cardio interval
workouts (only 10
to 30 minutes).
The former adds
the muscle mass
you need to burn
more calories and
includes three
sets of eight to
12 repetitions of
pushups, dumbbell
squats and other
exercises. The latter
mixes short bursts
of high-intensity
activity with less-
intensity “recovery”
periods, a routine
that studies have
shown targets
belly fat.
Everyday,do
this simple and
flexible one-minute-
in-the-morning
energiser. This
workout works with
whatever energy
levels you’re dealing
with, getting you in
thegroovetomove
more throughout
the day.Body BookMelt fat